Abstract
Joseph J. Darowski examines the Ewoks and Droids animated series, examples of early transitions of Star Wars from the big screen to television. Despite the undeniable popularity of the films, these Saturday morning cartoons failed to find an audience and were soon canceled. Analyzing the path that Ewoks and Droids took from assumed-sure-things to largely forgotten relics of pop culture past yields insights into audience expectations for Star Wars stories. While the films had intertwined the fantasy and science fiction genres these series separated them, situating Ewoks in the fantasy genre and Droids in the science fiction genre. Though the series aired back-to-back, this resulted in a series that felt a generic step removed from what had resonated with audiences in the feature films.
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Notes
- 1.
Jones, George Lucas, 176.
- 2.
“The Stars of Star Wars,” The Muppet Show, season 4, ep. 17.
- 3.
Krantz, Snider, Della Cava, Alexander, “Disney Buys Lucasfilm.”
- 4.
Veekhoven, “From Wicket to the Dulocks.”
- 5.
Granshaw, “Star Wars Saturday Mornings.”
- 6.
Granshaw, “Star Wars Saturday Mornings.”
- 7.
Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling.”
- 8.
Fitzgerald, “Nelvana 30th Anniversary Profile.”
- 9.
Seastrom, “Animator John Celestri’s Road.”
- 10.
Anderton, “Jon Favreau.”
- 11.
Ricca, “Boba Fett.”
- 12.
See Stevens, “The Battle for Endor,” in this volume.
- 13.
Charles, “The Jedi Network,” 128–129.
- 14.
Burke and Burke, Saturday Morning Fever, 64.
- 15.
Mary Henderson, The Magic of Myth, 102.
- 16.
Veekhoven, “From Wicket to the Dulocks.”
- 17.
Alter, “‘Ewoks’ and ‘Droids.’”
- 18.
Jenkins and Hassler-Forest, Transmedia Storytelling, 24.
- 19.
Harber, “Droids Animated Series.”
- 20.
Alter, “‘Ewoks’ and ‘Droids.’”
- 21.
Burke and Burke, Saturday Morning Fever, 163.
- 22.
Burke and Burke, 164.
- 23.
Alter, “‘Ewoks’ and ‘Droids.’”
- 24.
Mitroff and Stephenson, “Tug-of-War,” 17.
- 25.
Mitroff and Stephenson, 18.
- 26.
Mitroff and Stephenson, 18.
- 27.
Veekhoven, “Vintage Vault.”
- 28.
Veekhoven, “Vintage Vault.”
- 29.
Veekhoven, “Vintage Vault.”
- 30.
See Nardi, “Canonical Legends,” in this volume.
- 31.
Veekhoven, “From Wicket to the Dulocks.”
- 32.
Alter, “‘Ewoks’ and ‘Droids.’”
- 33.
“Battle for the Sunstar,” Ewoks, season 2, episode 12.
- 34.
Lucas, Star Wars: A New Hope, 1977.
- 35.
Charles, “The Jedi Network,” 128–129.
- 36.
Granshaw, “Star Wars Saturday Mornings.”
- 37.
Newman and Simons. “Lego Star Wars,” 239.
- 38.
See Ferguson, “The Holiday Special and the Hole in the Archive,” in this volume.
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Darowski, J.J. (2020). Several Decades Ago in Your Living Room: Ewoks, Droids, and Star Wars Saturday Morning Cartoons. In: Nardi, D.J., Sweet, D.R. (eds) The Transmedia Franchise of Star Wars TV. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52958-1_7
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